Moscow shoots down more than 80 drones; Russian attacks kill six in Ukraine
June 22 (Reuters) – Moscow shot down dozens of drones early on Monday, just days after a repeated Ukrainian attack on the city’s oil refinery, officials said, while Russian strikes in Ukraine killed at least six people, including a “child” and his father.
Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a statement on Telegram that 84 unmanned aerial vehicles heading to Moscow were shot down in the last 24 hours. He said emergency services had been dispatched to the areas where drones were downed but gave no further information.
The aviation watchdog said in a separate statement that it had temporarily suspended flights at Sheremetyevo, Domodedovo and Vnukovo airports, as well as Zhukovsky near the Russian capital.
The Ukrainian army announced that the surrounding Dubna satellite communications center was hit.
Local news sources, quoting the defense ministry, said Russian defense systems shot down a total of 301 drones overnight. This number included the Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine.
The latest raids follow a drone strike on Moscow’s only oil refinery last week, in one of the biggest airstrikes on the city since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
A 13-year-old boy, his 36-year-old father and 73-year-old grandmother were killed in a drone strike in Ukraine’s Sumy region early Monday, regional prosecutors said.
Regional governor Oleh Hryhorov said the 73-year-old was the mother of the man’s roommate.
Two people were killed and seven others were injured in Russian drone attacks on the southeastern Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhya overnight and early on Monday, according to a statement from Ukrainian emergency services.
They posted footage of firefighters extinguishing a building filled with flames and a blurry photo of firefighters retrieving a board containing a body in a black bag.
Regional Governor Oleh Kiper said in a statement on Telegram that Russia hit the southern Odesa region with the Iskander ballistic missile on Sunday evening, killing one person and injuring three people. He said the vehicles and fuel storage tanks caught fire after the attack hit an agricultural facility.
Mikhail Razvozhayev, governor of the Russian-annexed city of Sevastopol in Crimea, said he was canceling all outdoor public events and keeping street lights off on Monday, while urging people to limit electricity use.
Crimea, a popular tourist destination for Russians, has suspended fuel sales to the public and businesses as drone attacks on Ukrainian supply routes and energy facilities elsewhere sparked a fuel crisis; supply was limited to government agencies responsible for essential services and security.
THREE SHIPS UNDER RUSSIAN DRONE ATTACK, CREW MEMBERS WERE KILLED
The Ukrainian navy announced that Russian unmanned aerial vehicles hit the Panama-flagged Turkish dry cargo ship Victress. Deputy Prime Minister Oleksiy Kuleba said that a 58-year-old Egyptian cook was killed, and eight other crew members, including Turkish and Indian citizens, had to be evacuated by lifeboat.
Speaking on Telegram, Kuleba said that there was serious damage to the ship. Victress’ operator in Türkiye, Rana Denizcilik, could not immediately be reached for comment, according to LSEG data.
“Russia remains the main threat to the security and prosperity of the Black Sea,” Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha told X. he said.
Kuleba said that Palau and Belize flagged ships were also attacked at night, but no one was injured and the ships continued their journey.
Russia has repeatedly attacked Ukraine’s maritime export routes, attacking ships and ports vital to foreign trade and the wartime economy.
(Reporting by Jekaterīna Golubkova in Tokyo and Anna Pruchnicka in Gdansk; Editing by David Dolan, Gareth Jones, William Maclean)
